Bluetooth Speaker Reviews

Performance
Build Quality
Ergonomics
Value

AT A GLANCE

Plus
No distortion—good sound quality at high volume
Easy to carry
Up to 140-watt output—loud and clear outdoors
Auxiliary-In port
Minus
No microphone for calls or voice assistant
No dustproof rating
Can’t pair more than one phone

THE VERDICT
The Boom 2 Plus performs excellently when used as intended—as a party speaker, either outdoors or indoors.

For any party, the Soundcore Boom 2 Plus Outdoor Bass Bluetooth Speaker is an essential invite. As its name suggests, it's designed to keep the beat with deep bass powered by an impressive 140-watt output, thanks to the BassUp 2.0 bass booster. The passive radiator sides add to the party atmosphere with multi-colored lights that sync with the music.

The Soundcore Boom 2 Plus is the Boom 2's robust successor. Both feature a boombox design, but the Boom 2 Plus is significantly larger, measuring 17.4 inches long compared to the Boom 2's 11.7 inches and weighing 8.4 lbs. versus 3.7 lbs. With the increased size comes increased power, boasting a 140-watt output with BassUp 2.0, while the Boom 2 maxes out at 80 watts.

Only JBL's $500 Boombox 3 surpasses the Soundcore Boom 2 Plus with a 180-watt output, but it must be plugged in to achieve that level of power. On battery, it maxes out at 136 watts.

Designed as a party machine, the Boom 2 Plus features LED light side panel passive radiators that vibrate, flash, and change colors in sync with the music. Whether at the beach, poolside, or indoors, the Boom 2 Plus is built to amplify the music and command attention. During testing, the line "Nobody puts Baby (the Boom 2 Plus) in the corner," from Dirty Dancing, kept coming to mind.

Other outdoor speakers in this price range include the Sony XG300 ($350, on sale for $200), which can be splashed with water but doesn’t float like the Boom 2 Plus. It can handle soft ballads slightly better but doesn’t have the bass presence of the Boom 2 Plus. Altec Lansing's Rockbox XL 2.0 has a 120-watt output, a light show, and can float, coming the closest to Soundcore's speaker. The Rockbox and the Sony both have microphones, so the speakers can be used as a speakerphone or accept Google and Siri voice commands to control playback.

Features
The Boom 2 Plus speaker features BassUp 2.0 bass boost, which increases its power. Its dual woofers and tweeters have a combined 100-watt output, but with the press of a button, BassUp 2.0 boosts the speaker’s output to 140 watts—50 watts per woofer and 20 watts per tweeter with balanced crossover technology. The woofers deliver 40 Hz deep bass. The passive radiator sides, with a 9,500 square millimeter surface area, further enhance the bass output.

While the two tweeters and woofers provide stereo sound, you can easily pair it with a second speaker for an authentic stereo experience. Using True Wireless Stereo (TWS) to connect quickly, you simply press the Bluetooth button on both speakers simultaneously.

In fact, the PartyCast button can connect up to 100 Soundcore speakers. PartyCast syncs music playback and lighting effects across multiple Soundcore speakers but isn’t compatible with other brands.

The Boom 2 Plus can keep the party going for up to 20 hours and fully charge in 3 hours. Using BassUp 2.0 reduces battery life. To prevent your phone from dying before the speaker, you can plug it into its USB-C port for a quick charge from the Boom 2 Plus’s 7500 mAh battery. The port is next to an Auxiliary-In connection.

A rubber cover ensures water resistance. The rest of the speaker is built for outdoor use. The Boom 2 Plus is IPX7 waterproof certified, meaning it can be submerged underwater for up to 30 minutes. However, since it floats, submerging for long periods is unlikely. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have the IP67 rating for dust-proofing.

When it’s time to bring the outdoors inside, the Boom 2 Plus can play white noise from the phone app. A few white noise combinations are available, or you can customize your own. Sounds are categorized into Animal, Life, Nature, Melody, Bell, and Other. You can choose any sound or combine up to three sounds, like a babbling brook, a duck, and crickets, or a slicing onion, boiling water, and a mixing bowl. You can create your own mix, allowing one noise to dominate the others. There are 62 different sounds—many of them are soothing, while others are odd noises like crunching potato chips, pouring a beer, and brushing your teeth. A timer is available when choosing a white noise to turn off the speaker in 5 minutes to an hour.

The speaker’s sound can be adjusted using a customizable equalizer in the app. Raise or lower the nine levels across the full band to achieve the exact sound you like. Then, name it and save it. Only one customized EQ can be saved at a time.

Or you can take the easy way out by choosing one of the EQ presets, which include the Soundcore Signature, which boosts the bass and creates an overall bright, clear sound with decent separation; the Voice preset, which clarifies vocals; Treble Boost, which also helps bring up the midrange; or Balanced, which evens out all tones.

Similarly, you can customize the LED lights with eight preset choices: Rainbow, Flash, Flame, Lightning, Energy, Scan, Cyclone, and Bounce. These presets change the light movement in sync with the bass. Using a color wheel within each preset, you can also choose a color for the lights.

Unboxing and First Impressions
The Boom 2 Plus comes in three colors: Phantom Black, Adventure Green, and Explorer Blue. The color I received is a dusty blue with light blue accents. I appreciated the change from the typical black.

Weighing over 8 lbs., the weight is balanced, and the molded handle makes it easy to carry. The wide, smooth nylon strap easily attaches using a hook-and-loop fastener, making it simple to remove and replace. The cross strap stayed on my shoulder, allowing for hands-free carrying.

The sturdy molded plastic appears durable but scuffs easily. The plastic grill is rugged, but sand can easily wedge itself next to the rubber buttons, highlighting the lack of a dustproof rating.

Good-sized buttons with obvious icons include power, Bluetooth, volume up and down, play/pause (which can also be used to advance to the next song or return to a previous one), light (to turn the side light panels off and on or change the effect), PartyCast to connect other Soundcore speakers, and BassUp 2.0 bass booster.

It was ridiculously easy to start using Bluetooth 5.3, which proved reliable and steady in every instance. Press the Bluetooth button and connect in your phone's Bluetooth settings. Download the app for iPhone or Android to customize the audio EQ, choose different light presets, and create, play, and save white noise. The app is the only way to check your battery level until it gets low, indicated by a red light around the power button. To adjust the speaker volume, use the volume on your phone.

Performance
When BassUp 2.0 is turned on, the Boom 2 Plus performs best at louder volumes. BassUp enhances the bass and gives the tweeters more power, brightening the midrange and highs. Even at the loudest volume, the highs never become tinny or ear-piercing, allowing for hours of comfortable listening.

As an outdoor speaker, I tested the Boom 2 Plus in various settings: at the beach, by the river, in my backyard, at a campground, in a large room, in my office, and inside my car.

Some bass-dominant speakers lose the melody at a distance, but the Boom 2 Plus maintained clarity up to 25 feet away, even with a light wind at the beach. When playing Talking Heads' "Burning Down the House," the bass was pronounced, but I could still understand the lyrics.

In the car, the speaker sounded good overall, though I had to turn off BassUp due to resonance issues.

In indoor spaces and my backyard, turning the volume down to 50% with BassUp provided a full, clear sound loud enough for fun without disturbing the neighbors.

At the river, I encountered a couple of women listening to "Ruth's Chris Freestyle" by Remble and Drakeo the Ruler on a JBL Xtreme 3. We performed a side-by-side comparison. With BassUp 2.0 on, the Boom 2 Plus was louder, livelier, and clearer than the JBL, with palpable bass. The JBL has a 100-watt output compared to Soundcore's 140 watts and a dynamic range stopping at 53.5 Hz, while the Boom 2 Plus offers ultra-deep 40 Hz bass.

In my office, I tested the midrange and vocals. Without AptX Bluetooth, it cannot play high-resolution music, so I connected an iFi Zen DAC to my Mac Studio and the auxiliary input on the speaker. After trying various EQ presets, I settled on custom adjustments to bring out the mids and highs.

Playing my iTunes high-resolution playlist, the Boom 2 Plus performed satisfactorily. Vocals on "4+20" by Crosby, Stills, Nash were clear, adding to the song's emotion. Joni Mitchell's voice resonated in "California," as did James Taylor's in "Sweet Baby James." While not high-fidelity, it was enjoyable as background music.

For "Rhapsody In Blue" by Leonard Bernstein and the Columbia Symphony Orchestra, I created a preset to bring up the treble and midtones, which did a great job of bringing out the emotion of the piano and the horns.

The Balanced preset worked best for Isaac Stern's Violin Concerto, Op. 14:I Allegro, which was remastered in lossless 24-bit, 48 kHz. It toned down the highs of the violin solo while bringing out the rest of the orchestra.

After using it with my Mac, I became addicted to the bigger sound and was disappointed to return to the computer's onboard speakers.

While I tested it with various music, Amazon Music's Afrobeats Energy AI playlist on Amazon Music Maestro Beta is the kind of music the Boom 2 Plus was made for. Using BassUp and the Soundcore Signature EQ preset provides a rich, full sound with bass that reproduces the various drums. Still, it loses some definition above 70% volume. Using the Soundcore Signature EQ preset offers the best overall sound for songs like "Essence" by Wizkid.

Conclusion
The Boom 2 Plus isn’t designed for sitting down and listening to music. It’s meant to be loud, energetic, and entertaining—the life of the party or your companion for outdoor adventures. It fulfills that role admirably.

As it’s easy to carry, waterproof, and floats, it’s the perfect speaker for listening to music while boating, paddle boarding, or playing in the pool.

The app offers as much customization as you can to make it sound and look how you want it. Presets let you enhance the audio and lights with a quick tap.

When not outdoors, it is a decent speaker for white noise or to enhance computer sound. It has enough power to make music enjoyable as a background when working, cooking, or cleaning, even if it lacks the definition of higher-end speakers.

Specifications

• Dimensions: 17.4 x 5.94 x 8.98 inches
• Weight: 8.38 lbs.
• Output: 140 watts (100 watts standard)
• Drivers: 50-watt woofer x2, 20-watt tweeter x2 (with BassUp turned on)
• Lowest Frequency: 40 Hz
• Playtime: 20 hours
• Water Resistance: IPX7
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 5.3/Auxiliary-In
• Multi-Speaker: PartyCast 2.0 / True Wireless Stereo
• Charging Port: USB-C (30-watt fast charging)